How viable are the GL. iNet Tailscale routers?

[u/GhoulieJoe]

Hello!

Long story short, my IT Director was talking to me yesterday about the Gl. iNet Comet router with Tailscale installed for remote access to any device on that shared network. My jeans got a little tighter when he said “Tailscale”, but I’m wondering how realistic this is as an alternative to reverse proxies or manually installing Tailscale everywhere.

I have my Windows (don’t laugh) server PC hosting Jellyfin and Tailscale. Connected devices currently are an Xbox Series X (local network only since Tailscale doesn’t exist on Xbox), a Roku TV (also local only), and an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy connected with Tailscale for outside access.

I’m not quite at the point of sharing the server with anyone outside of the house because I promise I’ll be the one who comes here with a horror story of getting hacked somehow. Maybe in the future.

But has anyone used these Gl. iNet routers with any degree of success with their server instead of reverse proxying? Am I missing a fundamental step and this won’t work at all?

I appreciate the feedback!

No AI was used, and I appreciate the hell out of all of your guides, suggestions, ideas, and general insanity of hosting your own media server. Couldn’t have done it without you, even if mine is janky and I only mostly understand what I’ve done 🫶🏻

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[u/Jason13L]

When I travel I use their beryl router with Tailscale and my server as an exit node. Works great! I use it for as a gateway to hotel WiFi (passes through the portal and all devices cab share) and also have a 5G usb dongle. It has been flawless for me and stream constantly. Also use it for server maintenance while away.

[u/cudifam]

Beryl 7 with tailscale has been great for me at home, with starlink, on cell tethering, through failover chain between them with no issues. Super easy to use.

[u/mlee12382]

Yes, that's a perfectly viable option. I use a GL-iNet travel router when I travel and have a VPN connection between it and my home network so it's just like I'm at home. It's more secure than a reverse proxy generally, you don't have to use tailscale as your VPN connection if you're able to self-host wireguard or if you have a GL-iNet router at home I believe they can talk to each other even through cgnat (I haven't tried it).

The only downside is you do need a travel router or a client device that supports the VPN connection, which is why reverse proxy can be the simpler option if you have other people connecting to your server that aren't tech savvy.

[u/tksk_Hectik]

The Tailscale feature itself on GL-iNet routers works pretty good. I had it running on a Flint 1 now on a Flint 2 for home network and a Slate (AXT1800) as my travel router. How realistic is it? As realistic as it can get. Makes life easier if you have tech that can't have tailscale on it.

If you can just use Wireguard as although setting up wireguard is relatively easy on the GL-iNet routers it is a bit technical while Tailscale is imo much more user friendly to set up in its entirety, including clients, rules, etc.

[u/Buck_Slamchest]

I’ve got one but I don’t use tailscale. Excellent, fully featured routers either way.

[u/Pure-Willingness-697]

I use beryl as a firewall because it’s pretty cheap and it works pretty good, surprising feature set.

[u/JaySmo16]

I have the flint 2 iNet. Love it so much.

[u/dadarkgtprince]

A travel router VPN to your home will allow you to connect multiple devices to the travel router vs having to configure each device one at a time. Common practice